MP3s from TEKTONA
1/6 & 10/23 UPDATES: LIKE ALL OF THE OTHER PAGES ON THIS WEBSITE, LOOK FOR TWEAKS, NEW CONTENT, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EARLY MONTHS OF 2023. ADDITIONALLY, IF THE TIME CAN BE FOUND, THERE MAY BE ALL-NEW TUNES COMING OUT FROM TEKTONA VIA CAKEWALK SOFTWARE (HAS YET TO BE USED, SO WE’LL SEE…) [1/10: SLIPPED IN A FEW TUNES AT THE BOTTOM]
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UPDATE of March 25, 2022 for this TEKTONA page only
*****NEW TEXT, AS OF 3/25/22: If much/most/all of the stuff at the top is old-hat for you, you might want to skip on down this page to the TEKTONA JUKEBOX graphic, several paragraphs below. In that brand-new section will be posted our old-school hard rock/metal rock (TEKTONA Retro-Rock) MP3s (in the guise of 45RPM platter selections played by a jukebox). A few dozen selections will eventually appear there for playback (and p-s-s-st, don’t tell anybody, but for free-downloading, too). Just give the “staff” some time to get it done.
Alright, this part of RetroPlay.net has been neglected long enough; it’s high time we got around to it. I see by some of the content that the previous updates go back as far as 2018, so-o-o-o……, yeah, it’s time to freshen this up a bit. However, I’ll leave the first sections intact in order to provide some background for this “Play-button” (MP3 audio playback) part of RetroPlay. (Did you happen to pick out those “reverse” and “play” button representations in the main website logo design? Take another look, and this time, don’t think of a baseball diamond with the “O” as the pitcher’s mound, but pick out the “reverse” and “play” buttons like those you might see on an old-school cassette or MP3 player : 
See ’em now? Then, too, the circle with a hole in the center might possibly remind a viewer of a compact disc or an old vinyl LP? Yes? No? Suit yourself. Just the logo designer himself “just sayin’…” what was in his head.
But now it’s off to the instrumental RetroRock. As indicated above, I’ve left the explanatory exposition below, along with the first batch of content, which has been posted in this buried backwater site for years now, but that will soon give way to waves of “fresh” stuff (guaranteed to be new to all but a few of you, though anything that’ll be posted here has been “in the can” for what … 9..10..11…12 years now? So I guess we could say, “New to you, old to me, but new-all-over-again to me in some cases where I haven’t heard ’em for a long time.” (I’m glad “we” put some of these together; they’re not so terrible, after all).
[Begin old preserved text here…]
Here’s the first mini-batch of mp3 audio files produced by my virtual band, TEKTONA. The tunes that will eventually be uploaded to this site have all been composed/arranged/slapped together by “us.” Personnel: Stevo Robertson, guitars; Felix Metalsome, backing guitars and all keyboards; Hugo Walker, bass; Geri “Hat Trick” Atric, drums, percussion. All tunes (all are instrumentals, with only a few vocal effects included here and there, but no lyrics to speak of) have been worked up on computers using (exclusively, other than a didgeridoo sound effect) Magix music-making programs and Soundpools. Some of these “we” are proud of, some we can still put up with on occasion, and some are best buried, as if they never existed (probably won’t post those, in case you’re wondering). But you be the judge…
To kick things off in this music playback section of Retroplay , let’s make our tune #75, the Michael Schenker/UFO-like (in my humble, skewed opinion), “Retro-Rock It,” our appropriate headliner of the week. While certainly not our best tune, it can give you some idea of the kind of 70’s/80’s/90’s stuff TEKTONA produced. Here ’tis>
Hope you’ll always be able to find something here to your liking — between the crunch/party-rockers, the “4-Minute Epics,” and, yes, even some slower/quieter numbers — so check back often as we keep rolling through the “catalog.” In the process, you can build your own (unique) version of a TEKTONA “Anthology/Best Of” compilation.
(Below are the first tunes uploaded, as part of the TEKTONA Preview at seaporter1.com, and then here)
“Freedom” by TEKTONA (Let it ease in, then the fun begins; cowbells and all! And you’ll know when to shout, “Freedom!!”):
“Liberty and Justice” by TEKTONA (We appreciate our armed forces at this site!):
“Lockstep Left” by TEKTONA (It’s supposed to sound dismal, ‘cuz it’s the Left on parade, and — here’s a current tie-in — they’re coming to jab us!):
“Forward the Charge” by TEKTONA (It’ll grow on you; let it do its thing):
“Ever Onward” by TEKTONA (Probably the most generally inspirational “builder” tune we’ve got):
“Storied Rider” by TEKTONA (Neo-Western; the hero rides into view and into legend; a scene-setting theme song?):
“Resolute” by TEKTONA (Seriously resolved to do right and move forward; “Hat Trick” Atric earns the spotlight in this one for his drumming and what it added):
“Rock Iraq” by TEKTONA (Kind of quirky and fun, yet intended as a salute to the troops stationed there to cash the checks the “leaders” wrote):
“Get on Board” by TEKTONA (Yep, how about it? Are you with us or not?):
“Kitsch In Sync” by TEKTONA (Flat-out fun; everything thrown in but the kitchen sink):
(This preview site debuted 9/14/18) [<<< There, see what I mean? This all goes back a ways!]
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When I can figure out how to do it, I’d like to make this whole page a giant virtual jukebox, where site visitors can “punch” in their selections and hear the corresponding “45RPM” tunes. Before that day can happen, however, we’ll just provide some more TEKTONA MP3s in dribs and drabs. Starting here…
“Crunch Time” by TEKTONA
“Chunky Fish” by TEKTONA (Just a simple, persistent, dense groove)
“4-Minute Electric Epic” by TEKTONA (Primitive, catchy, only “epic” in a hyperbolic sense)
Here’s the planned uploading schedule:
- TEKTONA “laid down” a total of 110 complete/nearly complete tracks that were kept around for any length of time, but not all of those are still deemed acceptable/representative by “us” today. You can expect to see several dozen landing here, nonetheless, and most of those will be from the last virtual albums (later stuff most-featured in the initial waves of uploads).
- The most primitive stuff will be mixed in with the more advanced stuff, however, ‘cuz I’ve learned that there’s “no accounting for taste” (everybody’s different and everybody’s got shifting moods).
- The main organizing principle will be to group these MP3s according to virtual-album groups/themes like, “WESTERN THEATER” ; “SERIOUS FUN” ; “CONFLICT” and maybe “LIGHTER STUFF” (Yep, TEKTONA did some of that, too).
Enough talk. Let’s rock it. First batch of Nu2U stuff; call it the “Western Theater” album (“Storied Rider” — see above among the first 14 uploads — would fit here also, as well as a couple more that need to be polished up a bit). “Cover art” will have to be supplied later; too many irons in the fire right now.
^When the Smoke Cleared (Tune 82)
^Courage Rides Alone (Tune 84)
^Soar With the Eagle (Tune 88)
^Torrent (Tune 90)
^Wind Riders (Tune 34)
^Boiling Point (Tune 42)
^Trail of Betrayals (Tune 48; longest one we did at 7 minutes +)
^Buffalo Hunt Stomp (Tune 49)
^Intense (Tune 50)
^Sockeye (Tune 51)
^Raven’s Hop (Tune 54)
^Last Hours Dance (Tune 55)
^Pummelled Horse (Tune 100)
^Raised Fist (Tune 101)
^Black Feather (Tune 103)
^Spirit of the Plains (Tune 104; needs some studio clean-up, but wanted to get it out there)
With these March 25 uploads, there are now 30 TEKTONA tunes available here. We’ll give you some time to play these back and do what you will with ’em before more are added. A “party-rock” batch might be up next, just to clear the palate between the heavier-themed groups. We’ll see; stay tuned…
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1/10/23 LATE P.M. — ADDED THESE FEW BELOW, JUST TO SEE IF ANYBODY WAS PAYING ATTENTION…
RIGHT NOW WE ROCK (TEKTONA TUNE 28) Laid down early in the game, but fun anyway:
SET FREE (TEKTONA TUNE 72) Not as primitive, picks up the pace:
DANCE ON MY GRAVE (TEKTONA TUNE 81) Go ahead and knock yourself out; I won’t be there! :
CAN’T BE STILL (TEKTONA TUNE 91) Flat-out, fun, feel-good rocker:
ROCKHEAD (TEKTONA TUNE 92) Real Rockheads get it, so ’nuff said:
AMPSTACK (TEKTONA TUNE 105) “We’re only in it for the volume” — Geezer Butler (And the movement ):
That’ll do it for this batch (about half of the “SERIOUS FUN” VIRTUAL ALBUM BY TEKTONA). More later — Stevo Robertson
1/10/2023: This page is currently mirroring RetroPlay.net ‘s TEKTONA.net virtual band free-MP3-download (“jukebox”) page. Content will be added in dribs and drabs, usually in the form of virtual “albums.” Check in here often in the next few days/weeks for updates. Right now, we’re just getting the page out there as work on every page of two websites continues. (This way, I can provide my own instrumental music background while I work on everything else, which is nice; I got that goin’ for me…)